Zebra Party

Here's a card from a few weeks ago, finally got an image editted of it! It was a birthday card for a 9 year old girl who likes all things horsie. Last year's card had also featured the Pony Party stamp set, so we gave it a twist this year and made the pony into a zebra! I was a little worried I'd overdone the stripes on the face, but Shaelea thought it was fine so who am I to argue

The pony was stamped on Whisper White cardstock, stripes and hooves done with a Basic Black marker and then a little Early Espresso ink was sponged around the muzzle. To create the shadow on the Crumb Cake layer I first sponged some Crumb Cake ink and then lightly sponged some Early Espresso for a variety. Along the top and the bottom of the Crumb Cake layer there are tiny Early Espresso scallops, created by attaching a strip of Early espresso that had been punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch. The greeting was inked with Early Espresso, stamped on Whisper White and cut out. I then edge it with a thin line of Tombow glue and sprinkled some black glitter over the glue. I punched an extra large oval from Whisper White cardstock, ran a thin line of Tombow around it and sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds over it. Once the glues were dry and excess glitter removed I attatched the two layers. I cut some small pieces of the 1/8" black taffeta ribbon, formed these into little loops and attached them to the back of the greeting using Sticky Strip. The Crumb Cake layer was attached to the Basic Black folded card base, zebra attached and greeting mounted with dimensionals and lastly a tiny rhinestone added to each corner to finish it all off.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Basic Black, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Stamp set: Pony Party, Perfect Punches
Ink: StazOn, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Basic Black marker, sponge dauber, Extra Large Oval punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch, Tombow mono multi glue, Fine Galazy glitter pack, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, 1/8" black taffeta ribbon, dimensionals

Let the Glitter Run Free

One layered Finnish star was just not enough! After making the Raspberry Tart one, I realised I really wanted to add glitter to it but it was just too hard to do after the fact. I also felt that the proportions could be improved, so I just had to make a second one to try these ideas out. I made this one for a relative who had commented on this Kaleidoscope paper recently, and luckily I had enough left over to use it. (Once again, you can click the image below to see a larger version with more detail)

This time the sizes were 12" x 1", 8" x 1.7cm (basically 2/3 of an inch) and 4" x 0.85cm (1/3"). Yes, I am wierd and work in mixed measurements sometimes! To add the glitter I lined the edge of the star points with Tombow glue and then sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds over the top. I tap off as much excess as I could, then set the stars aside to dry for a few hours, or preferably over night. I then used a large soft-bristled brush to remove the rest of the excess. I wish I had thought to do this over my desk so I could return the excess to the container of glitter... but it wasn't untill afterwards that I realised just how much loose excess remained on the stars. My floor was coated in it! Not that that is really a bad thing... Once I removed the rest of the excess I attached the stars with mini glue dots.

I really do think the glitter finishes it off nicely! Here's a side-by-sde shot of the two stars to highlight the different size of the layers. I now don't mind the sizing of the Raspberry Tart one so much, so if you don't quite have enough paper to do 12, 8 & 4 inch stars the smaller ones will still work nicely. You can also see that I arranged the layers different on the Kaleidoscope star, alternating the opening of the points - not really sure how to describe them! These are incredibly easy to make, though the initial lining up of the strips can be time consuming if you are as pedantic as me. I also wouldn't recommend using strips smaller than 3" as even this size is fiddly to work with.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: none!
Stamp set: none!
Ink: none!
Accessories: Kaleidoscope patterned paper, mini glue dots, Tombow glue, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, 1/8" white taffeta ribbon
Show watched while creating: Torchwood

Layered Finnish Star

I recently stumbled across directions for something called a Finnish Star, I thought they looked quite effect so I just had to make one. And at this time of year, anything like this is going to have a Christmas bent, so I chose the Christmas-ish colours of the Raspberry Tart patterned paper pack. I did tweak the design a bit though, making 5 stars and attaching them to make one large decoration. (you can click on the image below and see a larger version)

The large star was made using 12" x 1" strips, the medium star uses 6" x 1/2" strips and the small star uses 3" x 1/4" strips. Here's a side-on view to see the dimension of the stars.

If you are wondering what the star is hanging off, it's a dragon's wing! Below you can see the dragon in all it's glory, with it's companion and whole bunch of other decorations done in Raspberry Tart too (yes, I was rather obsessed with it and bought a few packs...)!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: none!
Stamp set: none!
Ink: none!
Accessories: Raspberry Tart patterned paper, mini glue dots, 1/8" white taffeta ribbon
Show watched while creating: Time Team

PS Kari Hughes, this is another decoration challenge for you!

(pine) Cone Trees

I've been having a bit of fun with glitter lately, spreading it from one end of the house to the other. Well, that wasn't what I was working on, but it always seems to happen! The first project to get the glitter treatment were these trees, made using the Petal Cone die for the Big Shot.

The tree on the left has been decorated with dots from a Sticky Sheets and mini glue dots. The great thing about using dots from the Sticky Sheets is you can stick them all on at the start where you want them, and peel off the back of all the ones you want a particular colour then move on to the next colour. When doing the mini glue dots, I had to stick the dots for each colour separately. The tree on the right has been decorated with a brand new product. In the up-coming Summer Mini Stampin' Up! will be introducing Glimmer Paper. 12" sheets of glitter that doesn't come off! OK, that is a little less fun, but it has it's advantages! I used the Tasteful Trim die to cut out two strips to wind around the tree. I'm still contemplating adding some dots - which means adding more glitter! The trunks are just strips of Choclate Chip that I made tabs at the top of, then curled around and stuck together, then stuck to the base of the cones.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip
Stamp set: none!
Ink: none!
Accessories: Petal Cone die, Tasteful Trim die, Brights Collection paper stack, Sticky Sheets, mini glue dots, Fine Galaxy glitter pack, Red Glimmer Paper
Show watched while creating: Torchwood

Greenhouse Ornament Step-Up

As many of you would know, I love my punches. One of my favourite punches is the ornament punch as it makes creating simple Christmas cards easy, particuarly when you use it to punch patterned paper. I often try for non-traditional Christmas cards and decided to use the punch with some left over Greenhouse Gala paper for a rather different Christmas look. I made the basic card and then made a second version, with a few pieces a little more involved to add more interest.
This card should be pretty straight forward, one little secret I have used is to layer the colourful ornament on a Chocolate Chip ornament so it is a little firmer and sits up better. The hanging threads for the ornaments are linen thread that has been split in half.

For the stepped up version I have used a layer of textured cardstock, replaced the punched strip with ribbon, painted over sections of the monochrome patterned paper with Frost White shimmer paint and sponged the shimmer paint all over the colourful ornament, used the shimmer paint to create a border on the sentiment piece, painted the linen thread with the shimmer paint, raised the sentiment piece on dimensionals, and edged the design on the colourful ornament with glitter. I used a blender pen to apply the shimmer pain to the ornaments, and a dauber for the border on the sentiment. The glitter outline was done by tracing the edge with Tombow glue then sprinkle Dazzling Diamonds over top. The ribbon is the new seam binding that I ruffled by holding a bunch of strands from the middle of the ribbon and sliding the ribbon along so the edges bunched up and ruffled. I think seam binding is my new favourite ribbon, it is so flexible and easy to work with!

Here's another angle on the card so you can really see the shimmer effect:
All supplies by Stampin' Up!

Basic Card
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip
Stamp set: Contempo Christmas
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Greenhouse Gala paper, Ornament punch, Decorative Label punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, linen thread, Dimensionals

Stepped-up Card
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, textured Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip
Stamp set: Contempo Christmas
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Greenhouse Gala paper, Ornament punch, Decorative Label punch, Frost White shimmer paint, Tombow multipurpose glue, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Baja Breeze seam binding, blender pen, sponge dauber, linen thread, Dimensionals

Doctorin' the TARDIS

You ready for some more Doctor Who papercrafting fun? First, a little background.

This is Doctor Whooves. He was an unnamed background character in the latest version of My Little Pony. That is, until fans noticed his hour-glass cutie mark and spikey brown hair and decided he was The Doctor in pony form (more precisely, the 10th Doctor). Now those involved in making the show even refer to him as Doctor Whooves apparently! Anyway, Shaelea loves horses and Doctor Who so I decided to combine the two for her birthday card.
I came up with a spinner card. Originally I wanted the TARDIS spinning through space, but that made it hard to include the pony. So, after landing the TARDIS, the Doctor has set out for Shaelea's party, and the TARDIS decided it wanted to go too.
Normally I would use a 5c piece behind the spinning item, however I made the TARDIS too skinny for that and had to resort to a magnet. The magnet was much chunkier so I had to have two layers Dimensionals so the magnet could spin freely. It's a good thing this card isn't going through the post!

The foreground grass is Certainly Celery, with the other two layers being Pear Pizzazz. The back layer is sponged lightly with Pear Pizzazz ink to make it a little darker. Another bit of tweaking on this card is with the sign. The Party this Way stamp actually has the arrow pointing to the right, so I inked the arrow with the Pacific Point marker (contemplating a name change and calling it Pacific Police Box or something ), stamped that then cleaned the stamp, inked the wrods with the Wisteria Wonder marker and used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up and stamp inside the arrow.
The good Doctor was inked using the Crumb Cake marker, so I could omit the mane, and stamped on Crumb Cake cardstock. I drew in the neckline with the fine writing end of the marker then cut him out. I hand cut the mane and tail from Early Espresso cardstock then went around the edges with the fine writing tip of the Early Espresso marker so they too were outlined. The hour-glass was hand drawn on Whisper White cardstock using So Saffron and Bashful Blue markers.

And don't forget: Always take a banana to a party

Most supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight
Stamp sets: Pony Party, Party This Way
Inks: Certainly Celery, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories: 1/2" circle punch, Cupcake Builder punch, dauber, Crumb Cake marker, Early Espresso marker, Pacific Point marker, Wisteria Wonder marker, Basic Black marker, So Saffron marker, Bashful Blue marker, Daffodil Delight marker, cutter kit, silver gel pen, Dimensionals
Show watched while creating: North & South

It's astounding, I am blogging (and time is fleeting)!

Finally back with a new project to share. This was Tiarna's birthday card this year, and I usually try to make something a little more interesting than your average birthday card when it comes to my kids - inspiration permitting! They have been getting into Doctor Who quite a bit so I decided to try my hand at making the Doctors' TARDIS.

I based my design on the original TARDIS (yes, there has been more than one) as I had better reference pictures for that, but I wanted to incorporate the woodgrain texture that is more prominent on the current TARDIS. I also would have prefered Brilliant Blue for the cardstock (turns out it has a use!) but I didn't have any left so made Pacific Point the new TARDIS Blue. I did make a few other changes such as simplifying the St Johns Ambulance logo, the wording on the phone door sign, the sign across the top, and the windows (the two corner windows in the bottom row on each door should be frosted and the others clear) - I just could not think of a way to pull them off without throwing off other aspects of the construction. The light on top is a bit of a disaster, I kept putting off dealing with it in the hopes a brilliant idea would come to mind but alas that still hasn't happened!

In the above photo you get a better sense of the 3D nature of the card (click on the image to see it full size). I wanted the sign across the top and the base/step at the bottom to be more prominent, and they also help to keep the card shut. They are essentially little boxes that were fiddly to make and attach and are a little worse for wear a month on. The top of the TARDIS slopes back towards the light with Dimensionals along the bottom holding that section up and a tab at the top folding under so it is nearly flush with the back of the card.

And as it turned out, the scale wasn't too bad for the Doctor & K9 action figures she received!

Two things I really wanted to achieve with this card: it had to be gate-fold so the doors opened in the middle as the real TARDIS doors do, and it had to be bigger on the inside as the real TARDIS is. Turned out that was probably the easiest bit of the card!

The card was an absolute hit, which I was pleased about as you can probably imagine. Only thing is I have to come up with something else for the next child's birthday in less than a weeks time... meep!

Most supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Basic Black, brushed silver
Stamps: Woodgrain
Inks: Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron
Accessories: White gel pen, dauber, Crop-o-dile, silver gel pen, biro